Why do mirrors flip left and proper however not up and down?

A: This basic query has a surprisingly fascinating reply. The very fact is mirrors don’t really flip left and proper, a lot much less up and down. As a substitute, they flip the picture of the world you see entrance to again.

While you stand in entrance of a mirror and lift your proper hand, your reflection raises what seems to be its left hand. However that’s solely as a result of your reflection is going through you. If another person stood going through you and raised their proper hand, that will additionally seem in your left aspect. So the mirror isn’t flipping left and proper. As a substitute, it’s flipping depth: what’s in entrance of you turns into what’s behind you within the mirror.

The confusion comes from how our brains interpret the reflection. We think about ourselves circled to face the identical course as our reflection. In doing so, we mentally swap left and proper. However the mirror hasn’t carried out that: it has merely reversed the picture alongside the axis perpendicular to its floor.

Thus, mirrors don’t want left-right or up-down. They solely mirror no matter is in entrance of them, flipped entrance to again